800 Cyclists Gather to Keep Alive the Spirit of Man Killed by Cougar

For more than 800 mountain bikers and others who turned up to memorialize Mark Reynolds, Saturday’s sunny weather was perfect for a spin in the backcountry at Irvine Regional Park.

Each cyclist donated $5 for a wrist strap worn during a ride sponsored by mountain bike groups as a fundraiser for a nonprofit foundation commemorating Reynolds, who was killed Jan. 8 by a mountain lion that seriously injured another bike rider, Anne Hjelle, hours later.

Reynolds’ parents, Dona and Gary of St. Joseph, Mo., were in town for the event and thanked the mountain bikers for their support.

“I think when all of you were riding in the wilderness today that you had someone with you. You just didn’t see him,” said Dona Reynolds, referring to her son. “Every ride you take he will be with you.”

Mountain biking was Mark Reynolds’ passion. The 35-year-old was riding alone about noon in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park and had apparently crouched to fix a broken bicycle chain on a section of Cactus Ridge trail when he was mauled. He became the state’s sixth recorded fatality of a mountain lion attack and the first since 1994.

Reynolds, who was a local account executive for OMS Sports, a Kentucky-based marketing firm that represents extreme sports athletes, also had a charitable side.

The last several Christmases he bought bikes and gave them to poor children.

His father recalled that one year, when he was handing out bicycles with his son, his son watched several boys pedal away and said: “There probably goes the next Lance Armstrong.”

Reynolds’ parents have started the nonprofit Mark Reynolds Memorial Bikes for Needy Children, which his father said plans to continue his son’s philanthropy.

Hjelle, 30, was attacked later that afternoon and was saved by riding companion Debi Nicholls, who held onto Hjelle until the lion let go.

Jacke Van Woerkom, who heads the Christian women’s cycling group Trail Angels, said that half the funds collected Saturday are for Hjelle’s foundation, to help with her medical bills. Hjelle and Nicholls are members of the riding club.

Nicholls and fellow cyclists Nils Magnuson and Mike Castellano, who helped chase the lion away from Hjelle, were recognized for their bravery with proclamations presented by Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Wilson.